Keynote Speakers

Ugo Bardi

University of Firenze, Italy
ugo.bardi(a)unifi.it

Professor Ugo Bardi is a member of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Firenze, where he teaches physical chemistry. His research interests include mineral resources, renewable energy, and system dynamics applied to economics. He is a Member of the Club of Rome, of the Scientific Committee of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil (ASPO), and Climalteranti, a group active in climate science.

Kerstin Cuhls

CC Foresight, The Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI, Germanykerstin.cuhls(a)isi.fraunhofer.de

Dr. phil. Kerstin Cuhls is a scientific manager at Fraunhofer ISI since 1992. She studied Japanology, Chinese Studies and Economics/Business Administration at the University of Hamburg and one year in Japan (Kansai Gaikokugo Daigaku in Hirakata-shi Osaka). She has practical experience at the National Institute for Metrology in Beijing, China and she seconded to the National Institute of Science and Technology Policy (NISTEP) in Tôkyô, Japan in order to establish a scientific cooperation. She finished her Dr. phil. at the University of Hamburg in Japanology about Technology Foresight in Japan. Kerstin Cuhls built up the Business Unit “Foresight and Futures Research” in the Competence Center “Innovation and Technology Management and Foresight” (now “Foresight”) from 2008 to 2010.

From 2011 to 2012, she was interim professor for Japanology at the Centre for East Asian Studies, University of Heidelberg. Kerstin Cuhls was the project manager of the BMBF Foresight Process Cycle I and several German and international foresight studies, namely as a scientific project coordinator for the German-Japanese foresight projects (Delphi ’93, Mini-Delphi 1995 and Delphi ’98).

Kerstin Cuhls teaches in various seminars on foresight, priority-setting and the combination of methods, e.g. for the UNIDO, at the FU Berlin (Master Studies “Futures Research”) as well as in Heidelberg (e.g. Innovation in Japan, Implications of Demographic Change, Time Concepts etc.). Publications.

Thomas Lombardo

Thomas Lombardo, Ph.D. is the Director of the Center for Future Consciousness and The Wisdom Page, and Professor Emeritus and retired Faculty Chair of Psychology, Philosophy, and the Future at Rio Salado College. He is a graduate of the Universities of Connecticut and Minnesota (Ph.D. in psychology and the philosophy of science) and a graduate fellow of Cornell University in ecological psychology. He has served as psychology faculty at numerous colleges and universities; clinical therapist, Chief Psychologist, and Educational Director at various mental health centers; Professor and Dean of Forest Institute of Professional Psychology; Chair of the Psychology Instructional Council at Maricopa Community Colleges; and Futurist Faculty at the University of Advancing Technology.

Lombardo has published six books and over fifty articles, and given numerous national and international presentations, including a series of online videos, on topics such as: The history of scientific and philosophical thought; wisdom, character virtues, and the future of education; the psychology of future consciousness; contemporary futurist thought; the evolution of science fiction; and the future evolution of consciousness and mind. His most recent published articles are: “Minds Toward the Future: Evolving the Wise Cyborg” and “The Future Evolution of Consciousness.”

Dr. Lombardo is an award-winning educator with forty years of professional experience in college teaching (online and in-person, graduate and undergraduate); curriculum and program development; workshop development and facilitation; and staff development and faculty supervision. In 2009, he was selected as futurist “Educator of the Quarter” by the magazine FUTUREtakes. His Academia.edu webpage ranks in the top 99.5 percentile for total publication hits on the Web.

Dr. Lombardo is an Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Futures Studies and the World Future Review. He is also a professional member of the World Future Society and World Futures Studies Federation. Additionally, he is an Advisory Board member of Communities of the Future, the Lifeboat Foundation, the Foresight Education and Research Network, and the Acceleration Studies Foundation. He is one of the key developers of the WFSF Pedagogical Resources in Futures Studies.

His published collection of essays, Wisdom, Consciousness, and the Future (2011), brings together his main articles on wisdom, future consciousness, ethics and virtue, integrative education, creativity, and the future evolution of the human mind. His intellectual autobiography, Mind Flight: A Journey into the Future (2011), chronicles the development of his philosophical and futurist thinking set within a personal and intellectual narrative. Dr. Lombardo’s two highly lauded previous books on the future, The Evolution of Future Consciousness and Contemporary Futurist Thought (2006), provide a detailed psychological study of the human capacity to think about the future and trace this capacity from prehistoric to contemporary times. He is presently writing two new books: The Psychology of the Future: Flourishing in the Flow of Evolution and Science Fiction: The Evolutionary Mythology of the Future; he has recently developed and taught college length courses for each of these topics.

Dr. Lombardo lives in the Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area with his wife and intellectual partner, Jeanne Lombardo.

Sirkka Heinonen

Finland Futures Research Centre, Turku School of Economics, University of Turku, Finlandsirkka.heinonen(a)utu.fi

Sirkka Heinonen has long experience and expertise in futures research. Her research projects focus on technology foresight, the future of cities and rural areas, information society, sustainable development, ambient intelligence, social media, future work, construction and housing, future of transport and mobility, lifestyles, and philosophy of technology. She reported on the state-of-art and scope of futures research in other countries to help organise Finnish futures studies in the 1980s. In the late 1990s and again in 2008 she was involved in preparing the Finnish Government’s Futures Report to the Parliament (climate and energy scenarios), and in renewing the Finnish National Strategy for Information Society.

Professor Heinonen has expertise in studying the perceptions of time, futures thinking, technology and nature within the framework of history of ideas, and anticipating the impacts and risks of technology on society. After working for over 20 years as a futures researcher at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, she is now Professor of Futures Research developing methodologies and conducting research at Finland Futures Research Centre (FFRC), University of Turku. She is Director of the Helsinki Office of the FFRC and heads the Research Group of Media and Communications (FMC).

Her aim is to promote futures learning and futures consciousness in Sustainable Knowledge Society, catalysing innovative solutions to global challenges amidst social and technological change. She has introduced the concepts of “Creative Foresight Space” and “Futures Cliniques” and is involved in developing foresight methodologies such as scanning of weak signals and black swans/wild cards. She teaches in the International Master’s Programme in Futures Studies (120 ects) at University of Turku. She is President of the Finnish Society for Futures Studies, Member of the Club of Rome, and Chair of the Helsinki Node of the Millennium Project. She is member of the pre-selection committee of the Finnish Millennium Technology Prize (MTP). In October 2013 she was appointed as Guest Professor for University of Science and Technology (USTC) in Hefei, China (for 2013–2016).

Professor Heinonen gives lectures and keynote talks on: Futures Research and Strategic Foresight (what, why and how); Future of Work/Learning/Media; Future of Cities/Future of Construction and Housing/ Ubiquitous Society for academia, cities, government units, and for private companies. Professor Heinonen has written many books, reports, and articles. She is member of the editorial board of Futures and European Journal of Futures Research.

Anders Wijkman

Anders Wijkman is an opinionmaker and author. He is Co-President of the Club of Rome, Chairman of the Swedish Association of Recycling Industries and Senior Advisor to the Stockholm Environment Institute.

In January 2015 Anders was appointed Chair of the Swedish Cross-Party Committee on Environmental Objectives. The most immediate task is to develop a strategy for a low-carbon society in 2050.

Wijkman has served as a Member of the European Parliament (1999–2009), as Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and Policy Director of UNDP (1995–1997) and as Secretary General of the Swedish Red Cross (1979–1988).

Wijkman is a member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, the World Future Council and the International Resources Panel. He is honorary doctor at Linköping University (2011).

His most recent book ”Bankrupting Nature” – with co-author Professor Johan Rockström – was published by Routledge in November 2012.